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Isaiah L. Lyons (1843–1871)

Isaiah L. Lyons served in the
Senate of Virginia (1869–1871) and was one of the first African American members of the
General Assembly. Born in
New Jersey, Lyons was raised in Brooklyn, New York, and worked as a clerk. During the
American Civil War (1861–1865),
he served in Virginia with the United States Colored Troops, finally
settling in Hampton. In 1869 Lyons,
who by then worked as a druggist, won election to the Senate by handily defeating a
white candidate, Martin McDevitt. He then became the only African American member to
vote against ratifying the Fourteenth and Fifteenth amendments to the U.S. Constitution. Although in the minority,
Lyons reasoned that the assembly itself was illegitimate because most of its white
members could not take the required oath stating they had been loyal to the United States during the
war. He also voted against a provision that required racial segregation in the
state's new
public schools but eventually supported the bill. Lyons died at his home in
Hampton in 1871 from the effects of illnesses acquired during the war. MORE...

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Early Years

Isaiah Leonard Lyons was born on or about August 23, 1843, in Monmouth, New
Jersey, and was the son of a laborer, George Lyons, and Mary E. Lyons, who was a
washerwoman after her husband's death in the 1850s. When he was about four years
old the family moved to Williamsburg, Brooklyn, New York. Lyons attended local
schools and about age eleven he began working as an office boy for a physician in
the town. Three years later he went to work as a clerk for a local African
American druggist. In February 1860 Lyons's name appeared in print for the first
time. The New York Weekly Anglo-African reported that he
had delivered an address at the third annual Williamsburg Lyceum. On March 10,
1861, Lyons married a widow, Sarah Jane Williams Robinson, in Brooklyn. They had
no children, but looked after a boy called Reuben Lyons, who had been born in
Virginia about 1858.

After the U.S. Army allowed African
Americans to join, Lyons enlisted as a hospital steward in the 6th Regiment,
United States Colored Troops, on September 4, 1863. The enlistment records
described him as a druggist, five feet six and a half inches tall with hazel eyes
and a light complexion. The regiment was stationed at Fort Monroe in Virginia later that autumn. While
on duty at Chaffin's Farm in New Market Heights near Richmond in August 1864, Lyons contracted typhoid
fever and malaria. He was hospitalized at Fort Monroe for much of the time from then until he was
mustered out on September 29, 1865. His wife had become a matron at the Freedman's
Hospital in Hampton, and Lyons joined the staff as a hospital steward on October
1. He continued to work there for the next two years and also opened a drugstore
in Hampton.

Political Career

Appointed one of the registrars of voters for Hampton prior to the 1869 elections,
Lyons ran against one of the white registrars, Martin McDevitt, for the seat in
the Senate of Virginia representing the counties of Elizabeth City, Surry, Warwick, and York. On July 6, when most African Americans in the
district voted for African American candidates and most white voters voted for
white candidates, Lyons defeated McDevitt by a vote of 3,003 to 1,671, with 230
votes cast for a third person.

As one of the first black members of the
General Assembly in Virginia's history, Lyons was the object of severe criticism
from some of the state's white journalists, who ridiculed his politics and his
speaking style. One of his African American colleagues in the Senate, George Teamoh, later wrote that
Lyons "was a very fine looking young man" as well as a "perfect gentleman, and a
sound republican," but that he was not a good public speaker. Lyons did not serve
on a committee during his sixteen months as a senator. Very early in the first
session in October, when the Senate chose a member of the U.S. Senate, Lyons nominated an
African American, Dr. J. D.
Harris, also of Hampton, who received only three of the forty-three votes
cast.

Lyons drew the most attention when he voted against ratification of the Fourteenth
and Fifteenth amendments to the U.S. Constitution, which Congress had made a
requirement before seating senators and representatives from Virginia. At the
beginning of the session, he and the other Republican members had objected
that many white legislators had not and could not take an oath required by
Congress stating that they had been loyal to the United States before and after
the Civil War. Lyons consequently regarded the assembly as illegitimate and its
actions as illegal. When the members of both houses of the assembly voted on
October 8 to ratify the two amendments, Lyons therefore voted against them, the
only African American member of the assembly to do so. That action drew criticism
from northern and Republican newspapers but rare praise from the hostile Richmond Whig.

Lyons was willing to compromise on other
issues. On June 7, 1870, he joined five other senators in an unsuccessful attempt
to eliminate the section requiring racial segregation from the bill that created
the state's first system of free public schools. As a protest against racial
segregation, many of the African Americans in the assembly voted against passage
of the bill, which they supported and knew would be enacted. The Richmond Whig reported that Lyons would support the bill because of "his
willingness to grant separate schools on condition that the colored schools should
be taught by colored teachers," and he voted with the majority on June 13 to pass
the bill.

Death

Lyons attended the Senate of Virginia for the last time on February 11, 1871, and
died on February 21 at his home in Hampton. The cause was heart disease presumably
brought on by the typhoid fever and malaria he had contracted during the war. The
senators passed a resolution of regret at his death and adjourned for the day in
respect to his memory. They also voted on a resolution to pay his widow for the
funeral expenses, but after reducing the sum from $150 to $52 the Senate could not
muster the required number of votes to authorize payment and it did not pass.
Lyons was buried with full Masonic honors in Union Cemetery in Brooklyn. In
1897–1898 the bodies buried there were reinterred in Cedar Grove Cemetery in
Queens, New York.

Time Line

ca. August 23, 1843
- Isaiah L. Lyons is born in Monmouth, New Jersey.

ca. 1847
- Isaiah L. Lyons and his family move from New Jersey to Williamsburg, Brooklyn, New York.

ca. 1854
- Isaiah L. Lyons begins working as an office boy for a physician in Brooklyn, New York.

February 1860
- The New York Weekly Anglo-African reports that Isaiah L. Lyons delivered an address at the third annual Williamsburg Lyceum.

September 4, 1863
- Isaiah L. Lyons enlists as a hospital steward in the 6th Regiment, United States Colored Troops.

August 1864
- Isaiah L. Lyons contracts typhoid fever and malaria while on duty at Chaffin's Farm in New Market Heights, near Richmond.

September 29, 1865
- Isaiah L. Lyons is mustered out of service with the United States Colored Troops.

October 1, 1865
- Isaiah L. Lyons joins the staff of the Freedman's Hospital in Hampton as a hospital steward. His wife is a matron at the hospital.

July 6, 1869
- Isaiah L. Lyons is elected to the Senate of Virginia, representing Elizabeth City, Surry, Warwick, and York counties. He is one of the first African American members of the General Assembly.

October 8, 1869
- Isaiah L. Lyons votes against the Fourteenth and Fifteenth amendments to the U.S. Constitution, the only black member of the General Assembly to do so.

June 7, 1870
- Isaiah L. Lyons joins five other senators in an unsuccessful attempt to eliminate segregation in public schools bill.

June 13, 1870
- Isaiah L. Lyons votes with majority to pass the bill establishing free public schools in Virginia.

February 11, 1871
- Isaiah L. Lyons attends the Senate of Virginia for the last time.

February 21, 1871
- Isaiah L. Lyons dies of heart disease at his home in Hampton.

Contributed by Emily Jones Salmon and the Dictionary ofVirginia Biography. Emily Jones Salmon is retired senior editor in the Education and Outreach Division of the Library of Virginia, co-editor of The Hornbook of Virginia History (3rd–5th editions: 1983, 1994, and 2010), and co-author with John S. Salmon of Franklin County, Virginia, 1786–1986: A Bicentennial History (1993).